Saturday, May 21, 2022

Market Of The Macabre 2021

In late 1835, John Jay Smith, a Quaker and librarian, recorded in his diary: “The City of Philadelphia has been increasing so rapidly of late years that the living population has multiplied beyond the means of accommodation for the dead…on recently visiting Friends grave yard in Cherry Street I found it impossible to designate the resting place of a darling daughter, determined me to endeavor to procure for the citizens a suitable, neat and orderly location for a rural cemetery.”

Smith’s very personal experience ultimately had very public implications, as less than one year later, this grieving father founded Laurel Hill Cemetery with partners Nathan Dunn, Benjamin W. Richards and Frederick Brown. When Smith conceived of Laurel Hill, he envisioned something fundamentally different from the burial places that came before it, and the site has continued to hold an important place of distinction as one of the first cemeteries of its kind. Key concepts to Laurel Hill’s founding were that it had to be situated in a picturesque location well outside the city; that it had no religious affiliation; and that it provided a permanent burial space for the dead in a restful and tranquil setting.

On May 21, 2022, I attended my first Market of the Macabre.  The street air temperature was 103 degrees.  The complaining was abundant and often.  But it was a market, in the middle of a beautiful cemetery.  And it was a ton of fun.  And I walked away with some cool stuff.

Here's a photo dump of the experience.  I'd definitely go again.  































My new stuff...







15 comments:

Willow Cove said...

Wow! Great pics! I bet is was Halloween overload. For me it would.
I’d have to leave my card at home.

Rot said...

I def blew my budget.

K.O. said...

Oh man, that market looks incredible!!!!! I'm jealous. Love the GG's headstone you got. And those little plates, pipes, and blow molds are also killer!! And all this...IN A CEMETERY?? The whole event just screams Halloween. Must've been amazing to have a taste of that in May.

Rot said...

Definitely a neat experience. Stupid mini heat wave though!

Tallulah said...

How I would love to attend this...I didn't even know about it, so thank you for sharing!

Rot said...

Sure thing!

Wren said...

Haven’t been in a few years, looks like I need to plan to go back! Love that pottery.

Rot said...

I will definitely be returning. There was a neat vibe, despite the heat. Everyone was super nice. And it's just neat being at that cool giant cemetery.

Mike C(JASONV123) said...

That's a great looking market!!

Rot said...

Yup. Lots of fun and there was beer!

MR. Macabre said...

Very frickn' cool, makes me wish I had access to something like that.

Mr. Macabre

Lady M said...

What a great event and the setting is magic. Whoever thought we should have a market in a cemetery deserves a medal. Love so much of the merch.

Rot said...

It certainly is a unique setting. We were looking through Sam Heimer's artwork and you almost didn't notice the tombstone behind the stack of prints (the tenth photo from the top).

Lady M said...

While you were enduring a heat wave we had 12 inches of wet snow here in Colorado!

Rot said...

Wow...crazy talk.